Price chart display system, method, and device

ABSTRACT

A computer implemented method for displaying to a user a OHLC (open, high, low, close) bar representative of a price range of a market traded security during a time period includes a charting engine generating and displaying an open-close price line drawn from an open price to a close price of the time period and the charting engine generating and displaying a high-low price line intersecting the open-close price line where the high-low price line is drawn from a high price at a first time during the time period to a low price at a second time during the time period.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/932,345, filed Jul. 17, 2020, which is a continuation inpart of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/790,512, filed Feb. 13,2020, each of which are incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention generally relates to a computer implemented chartingmethod and more specifically relates to a system, method, and device forgenerating and displaying enhanced price bar type charts representativeof a price range of a market traded security during a time period.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A bar chart also known as a OHLC (Open, High, Low, Close) chart is acollection of price bars, with each bar showing the price movements fora given time period. As shown in prior art of FIG. 1-A, each bar has avertical line 110 that shows the highest price 114 and the lowest price118 reached during the time period. The opening price 122 is marked by atick mark of a small horizontal line on the left of the vertical line110, and the closing price 126 is marked by a tick mark of a smallhorizontal line on the right of the vertical line 110. A bar chartvariation might only display a HLC (High, Low, Close) chart includingHLC bars that omit the opening price 122 and does not include the tickmark of a small horizontal line on the left of the vertical line 110.Bar charts are very similar to Japanese candlestick charts. The twochart types show the same information but in different ways.Candlesticks also have a vertical line showing the high and low of theperiod, but the difference between the open and close is represented bya thicker portion called a body. Neither of these charts show morespecific information as to when the high price and low price occurredduring that given time period nor do these charts even indicate which ofa high price and low price came first.

Since the latter part of the nineteenth century far-eastern traders haveused candlesticks for charting markets and for analysis based on trendsin market psychology. Candlestick patterns are now commonly used intechnical analysis to describe price movements of securities (e.g.,stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, etc.), derivatives (e.g., options,forwards, futures, swaps, etc.), indices, or currencies over time. Asshown in prior art of FIG. 1-B, the candlestick consists of arectangular body 130, the height of which represents the differencebetween a time period's open price 134 and close price 138. A centerlineprojecting from the top of the rectangle extends upward to the period'shigh price 142 is known as an upper wick 146 whereas a similarcenterline extends from the bottom to the period's low price 150 isknown as a lower wick 154. When the closing trade price 138 is higherthan its opening trade price 134, the body 130 of the up or bullishcandlestick is filled with usually a white or green color. As shown inprior art of FIG. 1-C, as the opening trade price 134 is higher than itsclosing trade price 138, the body of the down or bearish candlestick isfilled 158 with usually a black or red color.

The length of the candlestick varies with the price difference. When theprice ranges between the opening trade price and the closing trade priceincrease, the body will be lengthened. Likewise, the upper or lower wickwill be lengthened due to the highest or lowest trade price,respectively. As shown in prior art of FIG. 1-D, candlestick patternshave emerged due to the variety of sizes of both body and wicks. To namea few, a bullish Marubozu 160 and bearish Marubozu 165 have no wickswhich occur when the highs and the lows also represent the opening andthe closing prices and is considered a continuation pattern. A HangingMan 170 can be a black or a white candlestick that consists of a smallbody near the high with a little or no upper wick and a long lower wick.The lower wick should be two or three times the height of the body andis considered a bearish pattern during an uptrend. Similarly, a ShootingStar 175 can be a black or a white candlestick that has a small body, along upper wick and a little or no lower wick and is considered abearish pattern in an uptrend.

A Dragonfly Doji 180 is formed when the opening and the closing pricesare at the highest of the day. If it has a longer lower wick it signalsa more bullish trend. When appearing at market bottoms it is consideredto be a reversal signal and a Gravestone Doji 185 is formed when theopening and closing prices are at the lowest of the day. If it has alonger upper wick it signals a bearish trend. When it appears at markettop it is considered a reversal signal. Lastly, a Long-Legged Doji 190consists of a Doji with very long upper and lower wicks indicatingstrong forces balanced in opposition and possible market indecision.Nearly all candlestick patterns fall into three broad categories, namelybull, bear, and doji categories. There can be a price gap betweenadjacent candlesticks which occurs when the high and low price range ofthe first candlestick does not overlap with the high and low price ofthe second candlestick.

Both price bars and candlestick wicks are displayed along a centerlineof a vertical axis to show the high and low price range of a given timeperiod and does not offer more specific information as to when the highprice and low price occurred during that given time period. Although animprovement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,844,487 issued on Nov. 30,2010 by Chapman, entitled, “Computer-implemented method for displayingprice and value extremes” by adding angled tips to the top and bottom ofa price bar to serve as additional visual indicators that show which ofthe high price and low price came first, such teaching relies on addingadditional graphical information and remains silent on displaying moreprecisely when the high price and low price had occurred in a given timeperiod.

U.S. Patent Application 20040267654 filed on Jun. 26, 2003 by Peng, etal., entitled, “Candlestick and bar charts” similarly discloses theaddition of new graphical elements in the form of one or more dottedhorizontal lines that yield more information as to price direction nearthe open and/or close price but is silent as to offering any newinformation regarding when either the high and low price occurred.

To date, all known charting programs from trading software, banks,brokers, independents, and third parties similarly dynamically update acurrent candlestick for display in a candlestick chart during pricechanges throughout a given time period of the candlestick by renderingand displaying the same full fixed width of the candlestick whileupdating the height of the body and wicks along the centerline accordingto each price change leaving a user without any sense of when the timeperiod ends and left waiting to only then view the final candlestickupon learning of the close price for that time period. Analogously, thesame holds true for OHLC and HLC price bars where the vertical linedepicting the high price and low price remains though changing in heightremains static in the same vertical position throughout the time period.The speculative reason for this is that it appears all charting enginesand modules are configured to receive market data in the form of OHLCdata which does not specify when the high price or low price hasoccurred during the time period.

Accordingly, in light of the above, there is a strong need in the artfor systems, methods, and devices to overcome this lack of more specificinformation and provide a user with more timely and more visuallyaccurate charting information during a given time period.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention enables more specific information to help a userunderstand more clearly when a high price and low price occurred duringa time period without adding any additional visual indicators. Thepresent invention provides a widening body of a candlestick proportionalto the percentage of traversal of the time period. The present inventionenables for the replacement of conventional candlesticks with enhancedcandlesticks. The present invention enables enhanced OHLC data to assista user with research, analysis, and backtesting with historical data tovisualize enhanced candlestick chart data over longer time periods ofyears or even decades. The present invention provides enhanced OHLC andHLC bar charts that include a separate upper price bar and lower pricebar instead of a conventional centerline high-low price bar and furtherinclude an open-close bar and close bar respectively that can widenproportional to the percentage of traversal of the time period. Thepresent invention provides a tilting of a centerline high-low price barof a candlestick or OHLC bar to determine whether the high price or lowprice occurred first in the time period as well of the tilting orshifting of either upper and lower wicks or upper and lower price barsas alternate ways to visually depict such distinction without relyingupon the overlaying of any graphical elements or other visualindicators. The present invention enables for generation of newalternate OHLC type price symbols such as the two intersecting linessymbol that represents the intersection of an open-close price line anda high-low price line.

In general, in accordance with the present invention a computerimplemented method for displaying to a user a OHLC (open, high, low,close) bar representative of a price range of a market traded securityduring a time period includes a charting engine generating anddisplaying an open-close price line drawn from an open price to a closeprice of the time period and the charting engine generating anddisplaying a high-low price line intersecting the open-close price linewherein the high-low price line is drawn from a high price at a firsttime during the time period to a low price at a second time during thetime period.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method for displaying to a user a OHLC (open, high, low,close) bar representative of a price range of a market traded securityduring a time period includes determining whether the low price occurredbefore the high price during the time period, a charting enginegenerating and displaying an open-high price line drawn from an openprice at a start of the time period to a high price at a first time ofthe time period, a high-low price line drawn from the high price at thefirst time during the time period to a low price at a second time duringthe time period, and a low-close price line drawn from the low price atthe second time during the time period to the close price at an end ofthe time period if the low price occurred after the high price, and thecharting engine generating and displaying an open-low price line drawnfrom the open price at the start of the time period to the low price atthe second time of the time period, a low-high price line drawn from thelow price at the second time during the time period to the high price atthe first time during the time period, and a high-close price line drawnfrom the high price at the first time during the time period to theclose price at the end of the time period if the low price occurredbefore the high price.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method for displaying to a user a OHLC (open, high, low,close) bar representative of a price range of a market traded securityduring a time period includes determining whether the low price occurredbefore the high price during the time period, a charting enginegenerating and displaying an open price line drawn horizontally from anopen price at a start of the time period to perpendicularly connect witha bottom of a vertically drawn high price line of a high price at afirst time of the time period and a close price line drawn horizontallyfrom a close price at an end of the time period to perpendicularlyconnect with a top of a vertically drawn low price line of a low priceat a second time of the time period if the low price occurred after thehigh price, and the charting engine generating and displaying the openprice line drawn horizontally from the open price at the start of thetime period to perpendicularly connect with a top of a vertically drawnlow price line of the low price at the second time of the time periodand the close price line drawn horizontally from the close price at theend of the time period to perpendicularly connect with a bottom of avertically drawn high price line of the high price at the first time ofthe time period if the low price occurred before the high price.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention acomputer implemented method for displaying to a user a price range of amarket traded security during a time period includes a charting enginedisplaying a price bar, the price bar having a width representative ofthe time period; generating at least one of an upper price bar and lowerprice bar, the upper price bar having a height representative of a highprice at a first time during the time period and the lower price barhaving a height representative of a low price at a second time duringthe time period, connecting a bottom of the upper price bar to a top ofthe price bar, the connection dividing the top of the price bar into afirst top part and a second top part wherein the ratio between the firsttop part and the top of the price bar corresponds to the ratio betweenthe first time and the time period and connecting a top of the lowerprice bar to a bottom of the price bar, the connection dividing thebottom of the price bar into a first bottom part and a second bottompart wherein the ratio between the first bottom part and the bottom ofthe price bar corresponds to the ratio between the second time and thetime period, and the charting engine displaying the price bar, the upperprice bar, and the lower price bar that visually depicts and enables theuser to see proportional to the price bar when the upper price bar andthe lower price bar have occurred during the time period.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method for displaying to a user a HLC (high, low, close) barrepresentative of a price range of a market traded security during atime period including a plurality of intratime periods includes acharting engine displaying a first vertical line having a heightrepresentative of a range between a first high price and first low pricefrom a HLC data of a first intratime period having a first close price,the charting engine displaying a second vertical line adjacent to thefirst vertical line, the second vertical line having a heightrepresentative of a range between a second high price and second lowprice from a HLC data of a second intratime period having a second closeprice, determining a highest intratime period having a highest pricefrom each high price of each the intratime period and a lowest intratimeperiod having a lowest price from each low price of each the intratimeperiod, generating the HLC bar including a horizontal close bar and atleast one of an upper bar and lower bar by removing all portions of allvertical lines above and below the second close price from all intratimeperiods other than above the second close price of the highest intratimeperiod and below the second close price of the lowest intratime period,and the charting engine displaying the HLC bar, wherein the HLC barvisually depicts and enables the user to see proportional to thehorizontal close bar when the upper bar and the lower bar have occurredduring the time period.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method for displaying to a user a OHLC (open, high, low,close) bar representative of a price range of a market traded securityduring a time period including a plurality of intratime periods includesa charting engine displaying a first vertical line having a heightrepresentative of a range between a first high price and first low pricefrom a OHLC (open, high, low, close) data of a first intratime period,the charting engine displaying a second vertical line adjacent to thefirst vertical line, the second vertical line having a heightrepresentative of a range between a second high price and second lowprice from a OHLC data of a second intratime period having a closeprice, determining a highest intratime period having a highest pricefrom each high price of each the intratime period and a lowest intratimeperiod having a lowest price from each low price of each the intratimeperiod, generating an open-close line from an open price of the timeperiod and the close price of the second intratime period, and thecharting engine generating and displaying the OHLC bar by displaying theopen-close line overlayed upon the first vertical line and the secondvertical line and generating at least one of an upper bar and lower barby removing all portions of all vertical lines above and below theopen-close line from all intratime periods other than above theopen-close line of the highest intratime period and below the open-closeline of the lowest intratime period, wherein the OHLC bar visuallydepicts and enables the user to see proportional to the open-close linewhen the upper bar and the lower bar have occurred during the timeperiod.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method for displaying a candlestick representative of aprice range of a market traded security during a time period having aplurality of intratime periods includes a charting engine displaying afirst vertical line having a height representative of a range between afirst high price and first low price from a OHLC data of a firstintratime period, the charting engine displaying a second vertical lineadjacent to the first vertical line, the second vertical line having aheight representative of a range between a second high price and secondlow price from a OHLC data of a second intratime period, generating abody from an open price of the time period and a close price of thesecond intratime period, determining a highest intratime period having ahighest price from each high price of each intratime period and a lowestintratime period having a lowest price from each low price of eachintratime period, and the charting engine generating and displaying thecandlestick by displaying the body overlayed upon the first verticalline and the second vertical line and generating at least one of anupper wick and lower wick by removing all portions of all vertical linesoutside of the body from all intratime periods other than above the bodyfrom the highest intratime period and below the body of the lowestintratime period.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method for displaying a candlestick representative of aprice range of a market traded security during a time period includescalculating a size of a body of the candlestick, the body having a widthand height where the width is representative of the time period and theheight is representative of a range between an open price and a closeprice during the time period, calculating a size of at least one of anupper wick and lower wick of the candlestick, the upper wick having aheight representative of a high price at a first time during the timeperiod and the lower wick having a height representative of a low priceat a second time during the time period, a charting engine generatingthe candlestick by connecting a bottom of the upper wick substantiallyperpendicular to a top of the body, the connection dividing the top ofthe body into a first top part and a second top part where the ratiobetween the first top part and the top of the body corresponds to theratio between the first time and the time period and connecting a top ofthe lower wick substantially perpendicular to a bottom of the body, theconnection dividing the bottom of the body into a first bottom part anda second bottom part where the ratio between the first bottom part andthe bottom of the body corresponds to the ratio between the second timeand the time period, and displaying the candlestick.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method includes modifying a display of a candlestickrepresentative of a price range of a market traded security during atime period where the candlestick includes a body and at least one of anupper wick and lower wick, the body having a width and height where thewidth is representative of the time period and the height isrepresentative of a range between an open price and a close price duringthe time period, the upper wick having a centerline projecting from atop of the body having a height representative of a high price at afirst time during the time period and the lower wick having a centerlineprojecting from a bottom of the body having a height representative of alow price at a second time during the time period by a charting enginegenerating a modified candlestick by moving the upper wick from thecenterline to a connection point substantially perpendicular to the topof the body, the connection point dividing the top of the body into afirst top part and a second top part where the ratio between the firsttop part and the top of the body corresponds to the ratio between thefirst time and the time period and moving the lower wick from thecenterline to a connection point substantially perpendicular to thebottom of the body, the connection point dividing the bottom of the bodyinto a first bottom part and a second bottom part where the ratiobetween the first bottom part and the bottom of the body corresponds tothe ratio between the second time and the time period, and the chartingengine displaying the modified candlestick.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method for modifying to a user a display of a candlestickrepresentative of a price range of a market traded security during atime period wherein the candlestick includes a body and at least one ofan upper wick and lower wick, the body having a width and height whereinthe width is representative of the time period and the height isrepresentative of a range between an open price and a close price duringthe time period, the upper wick having a centerline projecting from atop of the body having a height representative of a high price at afirst time during the time period and the lower wick having a centerlineprojecting from a bottom of the body having a height representative of alow price at a second time during the time period including determiningwhether the low price occurred before the high price during the timeperiod, a charting engine generating a modified candlestick by at leastone of a moving the upper wick to the right of the centerline to aconnection point substantially perpendicular to the top of the body andmoving the lower wick to the left of the centerline to a connectionpoint substantially perpendicular to the bottom of the body if the lowprice occurred before the high price and at least one of a moving theupper wick to the left of the centerline to a connection pointsubstantially perpendicular to the top of the body and moving the lowerwick to the right of the centerline to a connection point substantiallyperpendicular to the bottom of the body if the low price occurred afterthe high price, and the charting engine displaying the modifiedcandlestick visually depicting to the user whether the low priceoccurred before or after the high price during the time period.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method for modifying to a user a display of a candlestickrepresentative of a price range of a market traded security during atime period wherein the candlestick includes a body and at least one ofan upper wick and lower wick, the body having a width and height whereinthe width is representative of the time period and the height isrepresentative of a range between an open price and a close price duringthe time period, the upper wick having a centerline projecting from atop of the body having a height representative of a high price at afirst time during the time period and the lower wick having a centerlineprojecting from a bottom of the body having a height representative of alow price at a second time during the time period including determiningwhether the low price occurred before the high price during the timeperiod, a charting engine generating a modified candlestick by at leastone of a tilting a top of the upper wick clockwise and tilting a bottomof the lower wick clockwise from a pivot of the centerline if the lowprice occurred before the high price and at least one of a tilting a topof the upper wick counter-clockwise and tilting a bottom of the lowerwick counter-clockwise from a pivot of the centerline if the low priceoccurred after the high price, and the charting engine displaying themodified candlestick visually depicting to the user whether the lowprice occurred before or after the high price during the time period.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a computerimplemented method for modifying to a user a display of OHLC price barrepresentative of a price range of a market traded security during atime period wherein the OHLC price bar includes a vertical price barhaving a center point and a height representative of a range between ahigh price and low price during the time period including determiningwhether the low price occurred before the high price during the timeperiod, a charting engine generating a modified OHLC price bar bytilting the vertical price bar clockwise from the center point of thevertical price bar if the low price occurred before the high price andtilting the vertical price bar counter-clockwise from the center-pointof the vertical price bar if the low price occurred after the highprice, and the charting engine displaying the modified OHLC price barvisually depicting to the user whether the low price occurred before orafter the high price during the time period.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a non-transitorycomputer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, theinstructions configured to cause a computing device to performoperations including one or more a computer implemented methods listedabove.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an apparatusincludes at least one computing device in communication with at leastone network interface and a network, the at least one computing deviceadapted to read and execute the instructions stored in thenon-transitory computer readable medium listed above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1-A is a prior art illustration of a bullish OHLC price bar.

FIG. 1-B is a prior art illustration of a bullish candlestick.

FIG. 1-C is a prior art illustration of a bearish candlestick.

FIG. 1-D is a prior art illustration of different types of candlesticks.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary distributed computer system inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary information recordsstored in memory in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4-A is a prior art depiction of a portion of a data structure formarket data such as time/sales data.

FIG. 4-B is a prior art depiction of a portion of a data structure formarket data such as OHLC data.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for processing anorder in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of how different kinds of candlesticks can begenerated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 7-A is an illustration of enhanced candlesticks having both anupper wick and lower wick that can be generated in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 7-B is an illustration of more enhanced candlesticks that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 8-A is a block diagram of a processor used to produce enhanced OHLCdata in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 8-B is a depiction of a portion of a data structure for theenhanced OHLC data in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a candlestick in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a candlestick in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 11-A is an illustration of an enhanced HLC price bar that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 11-B is an illustration of enhanced OHLC price bars that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an illustration of enhanced OHLC price bars that can bedynamically generated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 13-A is an illustration of alternate enhanced candlesticks that canbe generated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 13-B is an illustration of alternate enhanced OHLC price bars thatcan be generated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a candlestick in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a candlestick in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a OHLC price bar in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a HLC price bar in a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying an OHLC type of price bar in a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 19 is an illustration of enhanced OHLC price symbols that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor displaying an alternate OHLC price symbol in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor displaying another alternate OHLC price symbol in accordance with thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will now be described with reference to thedrawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to likeelements throughout.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary system for providing a distributedcomputer system 200 in accordance with one aspect of the presentinvention and includes one or more network access devices such as deviceof a user 210, connected 215 via a network 220. The network 220 may useInternet communications protocols (IP) to allow network access devices210 communicate with each other to communicate securities, derivatives,and currencies market data 225 stored and streamed from the cloud via atleast one data provider device 230, for example. Such network accessdevices 210 and data provider devices 230 can be configured asclient/server, peer-to-peer, publish-subscribe, processing agent,ad-hoc, and the like. It is understood that a single network accessdevice 210 and a data provider device 230 may be configured to performboth the client/server or publisher/subscriber roles.

The communication device of such network access device may include atransceiver, a modem, a network interface card, or other interfacedevices to communicate with the electronic network 220 and may furtherbe operatively coupled to and/or include a Global Positioning System(GPS) via a GPS receiver (not shown). The modem may communicate with theelectronic network 220 via a line 215 such as a telephone line, an ISDNline, a coaxial line, a cable television line, a fiber optic line, or acomputer network line. Alternatively, the modem may wirelesslycommunicate with the electronic network 220. The electronic network 220may provide an on-line service, an Internet service provider, a localarea network service, a wide area network service, a cable televisionservice, a wireless data service, an intranet, a satellite service, orthe like.

Such network access devices may be hand held devices, palmtop computers,personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablets, notebook, laptop, portablecomputers, desktop PCs, workstations, and/or larger/smaller computersystems. It is noted that the network access devices may have a varietyof forms, including but not limited to, a general purpose computer, anetwork computer, an internet television, a set top box, a web-enabledtelephone, an internet appliance, a portable wireless device, a gameplayer, a video recorder, and/or an audio component, for example.

Each network access device may typically include one or more memories310, processors 315, and input/output devices 320. An input device maybe any suitable device for the user to give input, for example: akeyboard, a 10-key pad, a telephone key pad, a light pen or any penpointing device, a touchscreen, a button, a dial, a joystick, a steeringwheel, a foot pedal, a mouse, a trackball, an optical or magneticrecognition unit such as a bar code or magnetic swipe reader, a voice orspeech recognition unit, a remote control attached via cable or wirelesslink to a game set, television, and/or cable box. A data glove, aneye-tracking device, or any MIDI device may also be used. A displaydevice may be any suitable output device, such as a display screen,text-to-speech converter, printer, plotter, fax, television set, oraudio player. Although the input device is typically separate from thedisplay device, they may be combined; for example: a display with anintegrated touchscreen, a display with an integrated keyboard, or aspeech-recognition unit combined with a text-to-speech converter.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the computer environment200 shown in FIG. 2 is intended to be merely illustrative. The presentinvention may also be practiced in other computing environments. Forexample, the present invention may be practiced in multiple processorenvironments wherein the network access device includes multipleprocessors. Moreover, the network access device need not include all ofthe input/output devices 320 as discussed above and may also includeadditional devices. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that thepresent invention may also be practiced via Intranets and more generallyin distributed environments in which a network access device requestsresources from another network access device.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a storage device such as memory310 in operative association with a processor 315. The processor 315 isoperatively coupled to input/output devices 320 in network accessdevices for users and market participants of market data 225 such astraders, investors, market makers, brokers, bankers, analysts,researchers, and the like. Stored in memory 310 may be informationrecords 325 having any combination of exemplary content such as lists,files, relational pointers, programs, interfaces, engines, modules,templates, rule sets, libraries, and databases. Such records may includefor example: user interface/templates/programs/APIs (applicationprogramming interface) 330, configuration settings 335, charting engineand technical analysis module and trading software 340, time/sales data345, OHLC data 350, and AI/pattern recognition module 355. Theseinformation records may be further introduced and discussed in moredetail throughout the disclosure of this invention.

FIG. 4-A illustrates a portion of a data structure for market data 225such as time/sales data 345. The data structure can include data fieldssuch as a date/time 410, security or derivative symbol 415, sales price420, size (e.g., number of shares or contracts, etc.) of the sale 425,and the exchange 430 that the sale took place.

FIG. 4-B illustrates a portion of a data structure for market data 225such as OHLC data 350. The data structure can include data fields 440such as a date/time 410, open price 134, high price 142, low price 150,close price 138, and volume. Each data record is representative of suchdata for a given time period and in turn used to represent a pluralityof intratime periods within a larger given time period. For instance,each data record shows the OHLC data for a one minute interval based onthe time data which can define a first intratime period 445, a secondintratime period 450, a third intratime period 455, and can continue(not shown) to an endless number of intratime periods up to a last orfinal intratime period. For instance, if the given time period ofinterest is a five minute interval then five data records of one minuteintervals would be used to as five intratime periods.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the correspondence andoperative association between data fields and/or data files can take onone-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many relationships.Relationships of data structures can take the form of delimited files,lists, tables, arrays, hashes, database records, objects, trees, graphs,rings, hub-spoke, and the like.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a candlestick in a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. When a network access device 210 receives security marketdata 225 including OHLC data 350 a device processor 315 in operativecommunication with a charting engine 340 can generate and display instep 510 a first vertical line with a height representative of a rangebetween a first high price and first low price from the OHLC data of afirst intratime period and then generate and display in step 515 asecond vertical line with a height representative of a range between asecond high price and second low price from a OHLC data of a secondintratime period.

A body from an open price of the time period and a close price of thesecond intratime period can be generated in step 520 and a highestintratime period from each high price and a lowest intratime period fromeach low price of each intratime period can be determined in step 525.The candlestick can be generated and displayed in step 530 by overlayingthe body upon the first and second vertical line and removing allportions of all vertical lines outside of the body from all intratimeperiods other than from above the body of the highest intratime periodand below the body of the lowest intratime period to form at least oneof an upper wick and lower wick, respectively.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of how different types of candlesticks can begenerated in accordance with the present invention. A series of fiveOHLC prices are shown in 610 in this case shown in the form ofcandlesticks. For the sake of example each candlestick represents a oneminute time period. The illustration shows what a prior art five minutecandlestick would look like in row 620 when rendering it through knownconventional techniques as each of the five OHLC prices having oneminute intervals are processed. Each column represents a different oneminute intratime period of the five minutes. The first columnrepresenting a first intratime period 630, a second column representinga second intratime period 635, a third column representing a thirdintratime period 640, a fourth column representing a fourth intratimeperiod 645, and a fifth column representing a fifth intratime period650.

Adjacent to the right of the five one minute candlesticks 610 shown inaggregate are the progressive sequence 615 of the same candlesticksshown as each intratime period passes. For instance, after the secondintratime period 635 one can view the first two one minute candlesticksin the series of five candlesticks 610, after the third intratime period640 one can view the first three one minute candlesticks in the seriesof five candlesticks 610 and so forth. One can observe the changingheight of the prior art single five minute candlestick shown in row 620.In all cases the single candlestick has the same fixed width body andincludes a centerline for displaying upper and lower wicks similar tohow all known charting programs would render candlesticks from OHLCprices. The other drawback is that there is no way to tell how much ofthe five minute period has progressed from viewing the prior artcandlestick.

However, a clear distinction can be shown in the last row 660, as eachintratime period progresses (630, 635, 640, 645, 650) the width of thecandlestick widens as wide as the width of the current and priorintratime periods rather than being a fixed width during the entire fiveminute time period as shown above. This gives a user a visual sense ofhow much time has passed during the five minute time period. The otherexemplary distinction in accordance with the present invention is thatthe widening candlestick shows more accurately when the high price orlow price has occurred based on rendering the upper wick in the highestknown intratime period and the lower wick in the lowest known intratimeperiod. By modifying where the wicks are positioned along the body widthof the candlestick provides more specific information as to when a highand low price have occurred without adding any additional graphicinformation.

The steps as shown in FIG. 5 can be repeated for a plurality ofintratime periods for the given time period. By so doing, a wideningcandlestick can be dynamically generated and displayed (see 660) byrepetitively displaying a current vertical line from a OHLC data of acurrent intratime period adjacent to all prior generated vertical linesof all prior intratime periods and repetitively generating a currentbody and at least one of a current upper wick and lower wick where thewidth of the current body is equal to the sum of the width of thecurrent intratime period and each width of all the prior intratimeperiods. This can continue until a final candlestick is generated anddisplayed having a final body and at least one of a final upper wick andlower wick where the width of the final body is equal to the width ofthe time period in this case a five minute time period having five oneminute intratime periods.

For example, a user may wish to view a chart rendering candlesticks inone hour intervals having access to one minute OHLC data where the bodyis sixty pixels wide. All known charting programs will take an hour tochange the shape of a candlestick having a sixty pixel wide body onceeach minute. However, by employing the methods of the instant invention,a new vertical line one pixel wide is drawn each minute representing thehigh/low price range of an intratime period. So after thirty minutes,the candlestick generated will be thirty pixels wide because of thethirty vertical lines drawn adjacent to each other in succession with athirty pixel wide body overlayed and all pixels removed to leave inplace the upper and lower wick in their respective columns to visuallyindicate when the highest price and lowest price during the thirtyminutes had been discovered. In this example, it could be determined atthe end of the time period that the high price occurred at the tenthminute of the hour in the tenth intratime period and a low priceoccurred at the twenty fifth minute of the hour in the twenty fifthintratime period and as a result an upper wick would be displayed in thetenth pixel column representative of the tenth intratime period and thelower wick would be displayed in the twenty fifth pixel columnrepresentative of the twenty fifth intratime period.

If there are price gaps between two adjacent vertical lines they can getfilled when the body is overlayed across those lines. In a bullishcandle where the close price is higher than the open price, the body isfilled white to remove all pixels inside the body frame. Most of thebody is already technically drawn because each column of pixelsrepresenting each vertical line for each intratime period are drawnadjacent to each other. Further a given time period and/or intratimeperiod can scale from the execution of a single sale price known as tickdata to a batch or group of ticks data to an interval of a second toseconds or minute to minutes or hour to hours or day to days or week toweeks or month to months or year to years and beyond.

In the alternative, if dynamic generation of a widening enhancedcandlestick requires too much computing resources then configurationsettings 335 can be used to only display the final enhanced candlestickat the end of the last intratime period which is the same time as theend of the time period itself. So it is possible to show prior artcenterline candlesticks corresponding to price changes during the timeperiod before showing the permanent final enhanced candlestickrepresentative of the whole time period at the end of the time period.

FIG. 7-A is an illustration of enhanced candlesticks having both anupper wick and lower wick that can be generated in accordance with thepresent invention. In the simplest example take a given time period of 2minutes using one minute OHLC data, the following are basic examples ofwhat an enhanced candlestick that includes both an upper wick and lowerwick can look like. A new enhanced candlestick called a Morning Candle710 can be formed when both a high price and low price is found in afirst intratime period. A new enhanced candlestick called a FallingCandle 715 can be formed when a high price is found in a first intratimeperiod and a low price found in the second intratime period. A newenhanced candlestick called a Rising Candle 720 can be formed when a lowprice is found in a first intratime period and a high price found in thesecond intratime period. A new enhanced candlestick called an EveningCandle 710 can be formed when both a high price and low price is foundin the second intratime period. As the intratime periods increase so dothe number of combinations of new enhanced candlesticks that can begenerated. Configuration settings 335 can be used to provide optionswhether the upper and lower wicks are displayed at the start, middle, orend of the intratime period. For instance, the middle was selected forboth upper and lower wicks the wick lines would render at either the 25%or the 75% along the width of the body.

FIG. 7-B is an illustration of more enhanced candlesticks that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention. Now that it is shownhow and why wicks of candlesticks can be moved to create enhancedcandlesticks that more accurately indicate when a high price and lowprice has occurred in a given time period a closer look at prior artcandlesticks can be reviewed and shown how they can be enhanced tocreate newer types of candlesticks. For instance the Hanging Man 170 canbroaden into at least two new enhanced candle sticks such as an EarlyHanging Man 730 and a Late Hanging Man 735 or a Shooting Star 175 canbroaden into at least two new enhanced candlesticks such as a MorningShooting Star 740 and an Evening Shooting Star 745 or a Dragonfly Doji180 can broaden into at least two new enhanced candlesticks such as aMorning Dragonfly Doji 750 and an Evening Dragonfly Doji 755 or aGravestone Doji 185 can broaden into at least two new enhancedcandlesticks such as a Morning Gravestone Doji 760 and an EveningGravestone Doji 765 or lastly, a Long-Legged Doji 190 can broaden intoat least two new enhanced candlesticks such as a Falling Long-LeggedDoji 770 and a Rising Long-Legged Doji 775. One can visually see whysuch Long-Legged Dojis would be described as Falling and Risingrespectively as they visually depict whether the high price or low pricecame first and serve as more of a leading indicator as to the degree ornature of indecision that is typically attributed to Doji typecandlesticks.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that scores of enhancedcandlesticks can be named by the use of the techniques described in thisinstant invention which may offer greater degree of granularity andinsight toward those speculators applying technical analysis of trendsand reversals based on such new visual information. Further, a singleenhanced candlestick can serve as a visual summary or substitute formore complex conventional candlestick patterns of a plurality ofcandlesticks across multiple intratime periods.

FIG. 8-A is a block diagram of a processor used to produce enhanced OHLCdata in accordance with the present invention. A device processor 315can receive time/sales data 345 and parse through all sales for a giventime period. The first sale of the period is the open price and lastsale of the period is the close price. After all sales are parsed it canbe determined which sale at what time had the highest price as well aswhich sale at what time had the lowest price. OHLC data 350 of prior artis usually produced this way from time/sales data. However such OHLCdata 350 format only discloses price and volume for a time period andneglects to include the absolute time of the high and low price and alsoneglects to include a percentage of time relative to the time period ofthe high and low price. Enhanced OHLC data 810 can be generated by theprocessor and stored to include the absolute time of the highest priceand absolute time of the lowest price for the time period which can bestored as a data record or delimited list. Newly packaged enhanced OHLCdata makes adoption to enhanced candlestick charts quicker and easier.

When time/sales data is not available, enhanced OHLC data 810 can alsobe generated by the processor 315 from known OHLC data 350. Forinstance, investors may not be as concerned with hourly pricefluctuations and might only wish to chart a security with daily OHLCdata. Since there are three hundred ninety minutes in a trading day, theprocessor 315 can parse through intraday OHLC data in one minuteintervals to determine which minute of the day had the highest price andwhich intratime period of the day had the lowest price. In one example,those intratime periods can be coded as values of daily percentage oftime of the high price and daily percentage of time of the low pricewhich could be stored as part of the enhanced OHLC daily data 810.

FIG. 8-B is a depiction of a portion of a data structure for theenhanced OHLC data in accordance with the present invention. Additionalfields such as time of high price 820, time of low price 825, high pricetime percentage 830, and low price time percentage 835 can be generatedas referenced above and included in the data structure to enhance OHLCdata 810. Each record shows an absolute time and can also includepercentage of time relative to the intratime period to make it quickerand easier for charting engines to generate enhanced candlesticks asreferenced throughout this instant invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a candlestick in accordance with the present invention.When a network access device 210 receives security market data 225including enhanced OHLC data 810 a device processor 315 in operativecommunication with a charting engine 340 can calculate in step 910 asize of a body of the candlestick, the body having a width and heightwhere the width is representative of the time period and the height isrepresentative of a range between an open price and a close price duringthe time period and calculate in step 915 a size of at least one of anupper wick and lower wick of the candlestick, the upper wick having aheight representative of a high price at a first time during the timeperiod and the lower wick having a height representative of a low priceat a second time during the time period. After such calculations thecandlestick can be generated in step 920 by connecting a bottom of theupper wick substantially perpendicular to a top of the body, theconnection dividing the top of the body into a first top part and asecond top part where the ratio between the first top part and the topof the body corresponds to the ratio between the first time and the timeperiod and by connecting a top of the lower wick substantiallyperpendicular to a bottom of the body, the connection dividing thebottom of the body into a first bottom part and a second bottom partwhere the ratio between the first bottom part and the bottom of the bodycorresponds to the ratio between the second time and the time period,and display in step 925 the candlestick.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for modifyingthe display of a candlestick in accordance with the present invention.When a displayed candlestick is identified in step 1010 with a body andat least one of an upper wick and lower wick, the body having a widthrepresentative of a time period and a height representative of a rangebetween an open price and close price during the time period, the upperwick having a centerline projecting from the top of the body having aheight representative of a high price at a first time during the timeperiod and the lower wick having a centerline projecting from the bottomof the body having a height representative of a low price at a secondtime during the time period the modified candlestick can be generated instep 1020 by moving the upper wick from the centerline to a connectionpoint substantially perpendicular to the top of the body, the connectionpoint dividing the top of the body into a first top part and second toppart where the ratio between the first top part and the top of the bodycorresponds to the ratio between the first time and time period andmoving the lower wick from the centerline to a connection pointsubstantially perpendicular to the bottom of the body, the connectionpoint dividing the bottom of the body into a first bottom part andsecond bottom part where the ratio between the first bottom part and thebottom of the body corresponds to the ratio between the second time andtime period. The modified candlestick can then be displayed in step1030.

Unlike conventional candlesticks that display the wick(s) along acenterline vertical axis one hundred percent of the time, the freedom ofthe instant invention to move the upper and lower wicks along the bodyof the candlestick would make enhanced candlesticks with wick(s) along acenterline vertical axis rare and could only happen when either or bothof the high price and low price occur near or around half of the giventime period.

Though it is generally preferred that the wicks are displayed verticalthe term substantially perpendicular is used to allow for alternateaspects of the instant invention. The wicks can be adapted to beslightly rotated or tilted forward or backward to indicate pricedirection or momentum during the time period or near the time of thehigh price or low price. Further, tilting each wick along the centerlineof a conventional candlestick can indicate which of a high price and lowprice had occurred first during the time period. The degree a tilt orrotational can be proportional to the length of time between theoccurrence of the high and low price within the given time period.

There are different types of market data available used to render anddisplay an enhanced candlestick chart such as real time streaming livedata when a given market is open and historical data used for research,technical analysis, and backtesting. Enhanced OHLC data 810 will beparticularly useful for historical data to enable users to visualizeenhanced candlesticks over longer time periods spanning years or decadesif need be.

The methods shown above can be employed from points of view ofpublisher/provider and subscriber/user. For instance, the data providerdevice 230 of a publisher can receive a request to download an enhancedcandlestick chart data feed and send a flash object that includes theenhanced candlestick chart to the network access device 210 of a user orsubscriber that can be opened and displayed in a browser or embeddedinto an electronic document. Further, the network access device 210could store in memory an enhanced candlestick price chart display appletthat runs in a standard Java virtual machine (JVM) executing within abrowser or make API calls to receive real time streaming enhanced OHLCdata 810 and/or enhanced candlestick chart publishing data from thecharting engine of the data provider device. Further API connections 330can integrate a real time streaming enhanced candlestick chart or OHLCprice bar chart module directly with brokerage trading softwareincluding trading portfolios, order management systems, and accountingsystems.

Such enhanced OHLC data flow can be operatively communicated betweenpublisher/provider and subscriber/user via a Hyper Text TransferProtocol (HTTP) based query that can utilize a Hyper Text MarkupLanguage (HTML), an eXtensible Markup Language (XML), Dynamic-HTML(DHTML), Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), JavaScript, Applets, orsome other suitable communication protocol or content format.

Due to the expanded visual symbol set of unique enhanced candlesticks, achart pattern recognition and analysis module 355 can be applied uponenhanced candlestick, OHLC price bar, or HLC price bar sequences ofvarying pattern length and use Artificial Intelligence type (AI)deterministic algorithms including machine learning algorithms, Bayesiannetworks, neural networks, or fuzzy systems. In some embodiments, anynumber of stochastic algorithms may be implemented including: geneticalgorithms or Monte Carlo algorithms. By applying such methods, greaterinsight can be revealed as to the greater likelihood of the next type ofenhanced candlestick or price bar that could occur in a currentunfolding sequence or progression of emerging enhanced candlestickpatterns.

The present invention includes dynamically generating and displaying awidening candlestick by repetitively displaying a current vertical linefrom a OHLC data of a current intratime period adjacent (to the right)to all prior displayed generated vertical lines of all prior intratimeperiods and repetitively generating a current body and at least one of acurrent upper wick and lower wick wherein the width of the current bodyis equal to the sum of the width of the current intratime period andeach width of all the prior intratime periods and further includesgenerating and displaying a final candlestick having a final body and atleast one of a final upper wick and lower wick wherein the width of thefinal body is equal to the width of the time period. The invention canfurther include generating OHLC data in real time after each intratimeperiod from time/sales data streamed during the intratime period anddetermining from configuration settings 335 whether at least one of anupper and lower wick is displayed at either the start, middle, or end ofthe width of the body for each intratime period or time period. A timeperiod can range from a fraction of a second to decades.

All the techniques of using the width of a candle body as an intratimeaxis to proportionately shift the display of upper and lower wicks aswell as the dynamic generation techniques of widening the candle bodyfor each intratime period can be applied to HLC and OHLC price bars andcharts as well.

FIG. 11-A is an illustration of an enhanced HLC price bar that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention. The illustrationvisually compares the prior art of FIG. 1-A, where an OHLC bar has asingle vertical line 110 that shows the high price 114 and the low price118 of a time period with the open price 122 marked by a tick mark onthe left of the vertical line 110, and the close price 126 marked by atick mark on the right of the vertical line 110. This prior art chart isof a price axis only for a discrete interval of time during a timeperiod. Rather than using the vertical line centric to showing OHLC itcan be appreciated that the new HLC price bar 1100 of the instantinvention splits the vertical high-low price line into two separatevertical lines of a high price bar 1110 and a low price bar 1115 both ofwhich connect and centric to a horizontal close price bar 1120 thelength of which serving as an intratime axis for the time period so thata user viewing this new HLC bar can ascertain when the high price bar1110 and low price bar 1115 have respectively occurred during the timeperiod. Optionally a tick mark for an open price (not shown) could bedrawn in this case to the left of the low price bar 1115 and turn theenhanced HLC price bar 1100 into an enhanced OHLC price bar.

FIG. 11-B is an illustration of enhanced OHLC price bars that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention. A similar techniquethat was applied toward enhancing and changing the function of HLC pricebars can also be applied toward enhancing OHLC price bars (1130,1160).The new OHLC price bar 1130 of the instant invention splits the verticalhigh-low price line into two separate vertical lines of a high price bar1140 and a low price bar 1145 both of which connect and centric to a newopen-close price bar 1150 the length of which serving as an intratimeaxis for the time period so that a user viewing this new OHLC bar canascertain when the high price bar 1140 and low price bar 1145 haverespectively occurred during the time period. The open-close price bar1150 is drawn as a rising diagonal in this case. This diagonal bar wouldbe the same length and angle as if it served as a diagonal of a candlebody (not shown) representative of the height between the open price andclose price and the width of the time period. Another new OHLC price bar1160 also splits the vertical high-low price line into two separatevertical lines of a high price bar 1170 and a low price bar 1175, inthis case the high connects perpendicular to a horizontal close pricebar 1180 and the low price bar 1175 connects perpendicular to ahorizontal open price bar 1185. An additional connecting bar 1190 couldbe optionally drawn to connect the intersection of the low-open pricebars (1175, 1185) with the high-close price bars (1170, 1180). Theconnecting bar 1190 illustrates the overall price flow during the timeperiod in between high and low price events. Essentially the presentinvention includes drawing a line between the open-high perpendicularconnection and the low-close perpendicular connection if the low priceoccurred after the high price and drawing a line between the open-lowperpendicular connection and the high-close perpendicular connection ifthe low price occurred before the high price.

FIG. 12 is an illustration of enhanced OHLC price bars that can bedynamically generated in accordance with the present invention. Similarto how row 660 of FIG. 6, shows the progression of each intratime period(630, 635, 640, 645, 650) where the width of the candlestick widens aswide as the width of the current and prior intratime periods during theentire time period, such to does row 1200 show the progression of eachintratime period (1210, 1215, 1220, 1225, 1230) of enhanced HLC pricebars where the width of the horizontal close bar progressively widensduring the time period giving a user a visual sense of how much time haspassed during the time period. The other exemplary distinction inaccordance with the present invention is that the widening horizontalclose bar shows more accurately when the high price or low price hasoccurred based on rendering the upper price bar in the highest knownintratime period and the lower price bar in the lowest known intratimeperiod. By modifying where the vertical price bars are positioned alongthe horizontal close bar provides more specific information as to when ahigh and low price have occurred during the time period without addingany additional graphic information. Such generation techniques can alsoapply to real time dynamic generation of enhanced OHLC price bars (1130,1160). For instance, the size and angle of the open-close price bar 1150can dynamically change in relation to the difference between open priceand close price for each intratime period during the time period.

FIG. 13-A is an illustration of alternate enhanced candlesticks that canbe generated in accordance with the present invention. Though it hasbeen shown a best mode for carrying out the instant invention withcandlesticks are to use the width of the candle body as an intratimeaxis of a time period to more precisely break up the single centerlinewick into an upper wick and lower wick that can be shifted along thecandle body, that level of detail or granularity might not be neededparticularly in the case of sparse computing resources. In this case,alternate candlesticks can also visually depict which came first, thehigh price or the low price in a given time period. Alternate enhancedcandlestick 1310 shows how only the upper wick is shifted to the rightwhich is enough to signify that the low price came first. Alternateenhanced candlestick 1315 shows how only the upper wick istilted/rotated to the right which is enough to signify that the lowprice came first. Alternate enhanced candlestick 1320 shows how thecenterline wick that represents both the depiction of an upper wick andlower wick is shifted clockwise can visually signify to the user thatthe low price came first. It of course would be apparent that shiftingthe centerline counter-clockwise would signify that the high price camefirst (not shown).

FIG. 13-B is an illustration of alternate enhanced OHLC price bars thatcan be generated in accordance with the present invention. Though it hasbeen shown a best mode for carrying out the instant invention with OHLCprice bars are to use the width of a price bar spanning from the openprice to close price as an intratime axis of a time period to moreprecisely break up the single centerline high-low price bar into anupper price bar and lower price bar that can be shifted along theopen-close price bar, that level of detail or granularity might not beneeded particularly in the case of sparse computing resources. In thiscase, alternate OHLC price bars can also visually depict which camefirst, the high price or the low price in a given time period. Alternateenhanced OHLC price bar 1330 shows how only the upper price barrepresentative of the high price is shifted to the right which is enoughto signify that the low price came first. Alternate enhanced OHLC pricebar 1335 shows how only the upper price bar is tilted/rotated to theright which is enough to signify that the low price came first.Alternate enhanced OHLC price bar 1340 shows how the centerline high-lowprice bar is shifted clockwise which can visually signify to the userthat the low price came first. It of course would be apparent thatshifting the centerline counter-clockwise would signify that the highprice came first (not shown).

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a candlestick in accordance with the presentinvention. When a candlestick is identified with a body and at least oneof an upper wick and lower wick, the body having a width representativeof a time period and a height representative of a range between an openprice and close price during the time period, the upper wick having acenterline projecting from the top of the body having a heightrepresentative of a high price at a first time during the time periodand the lower wick having a centerline projecting from the bottom of thebody having a height representative of a low price at a second timeduring the time period it can be determined in step 1410 whether the lowprice occurred before the high price during the time period. If the lowprice did occur first then the candlestick can be modified or generatedin step 1415 by at least one of a moving the upper wick to the right ofcenterline to a connection point perpendicular to the top of the bodyand moving the lower wick to the left of centerline to a connectionpoint perpendicular to the bottom of the body. However, if the highprice occurred first then the candlestick can be modified or generatedin step 1420 by at least one of a moving the upper wick to the left ofcenterline to a connection point perpendicular to the top of the bodyand moving the lower wick to the right of centerline to a connectionpoint perpendicular to the bottom of the body. In either case, thecharting engine can then display in step 1430 the modified candlestick(e.g., 1310) visually depicting to the user whether the low priceoccurred before or after the high price during the time period.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a candlestick in accordance with the presentinvention. When a candlestick is identified with a body and at least oneof an upper wick and lower wick, the body having a width representativeof a time period and a height representative of a range between an openprice and close price during the time period, the upper wick having acenterline projecting from the top of the body having a heightrepresentative of a high price at a first time during the time periodand the lower wick having a centerline projecting from the bottom of thebody having a height representative of a low price at a second timeduring the time period it can be determined in step 1510 whether the lowprice occurred before the high price during the time period. If the lowprice did occur first then the candlestick can be modified or generatedin step 1515 by at least one of a tilting a top of the upper wickclockwise and tilting a bottom of the lower wick clockwise from a pivoton the centerline. However, if the high price occurred first then thecandlestick can be modified or generated in step 1520 by at least one ofa tilting a top of the upper wick counter-clockwise and tilting a bottomof the lower wick counter-clockwise from a pivot on the centerline. Ineither case, the charting engine can then display in step 1530 themodified candlestick (e.g., 1315,1320) visually depicting to the userwhether the low price occurred before or after the high price during thetime period.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor modifying the display of a OHLC price bar in accordance with thepresent invention. When a OHLC price bar is identified with a verticalprice bar having a center point and a height representative of a rangebetween a high price and low price during the time period it can bedetermined in step 1610 whether the low price occurred before the highprice during the time period. If the low price did occur first then theOHLC price bar can be modified or generated in step 1615 by by tiltingthe vertical price bar clockwise from the center point of the verticalprice bar. However, if the high price occurred first then the OHLC pricebar can be modified or generated in step 1620 by by tilting the verticalprice bar counter-clockwise from the center point of the vertical pricebar. In either case, the charting engine can then display in step 1630the modified OHLC price bar (e.g., 1130,1340) visually depicting to theuser whether the low price occurred before or after the high priceduring the time period.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying a HLC price bar in a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. When a network access device 210 receives security marketdata 225 including OHLC data 350 (or HLC data only if OHLC data is notavailable), a device processor 315 in operative communication with acharting engine 340 can generate and display in step 1710 a firstvertical line with a height representative of a range between a firsthigh price and first low price from the OHLC data of a first intratimeperiod and then generate and display in step 1715 a second vertical linewith a height representative of a range between a second high price andsecond low price from a OHLC data of a second intratime period.

A highest intratime period from each high price and a lowest intratimeperiod from each low price of each intratime period can be determined instep 1720 and a HLC bar can be generated in step 1725 including ahorizontal close bar and at least one of an upper bar and lower bar byremoving all portions of all vertical lines above and below the secondclose price from all intratime periods other than above the second closeprice of the highest intratime period and below the second close priceof the lowest intratime period. The HLC bar can then be displayed instep 1730 by the charting engine 340, the HLC bar visually depicting andenabling the user to see proportional to the horizontal close bar whenthe upper bar and the lower bar have occurred during the time period.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingand displaying an OHLC type of price bar in a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention. When a network access device 210 receivessecurity market data 225 including OHLC data 350, a device processor 315in operative communication with a charting engine 340 can generate anddisplay in step 1810 a price bar having a size spanning a time periodfor a market traded security and generate in step 1815 at least one ofan upper bar and lower bar, the upper bar with a height representativeof a high price at a first time and the lower bar with a heightrepresentative of a low price at a second time during the time period.

The upper bar and lower price bar can then be connected in step 1820 tothe price bar by connecting a bottom of the upper bar to a top of theprice bar, the connection dividing the top of the price bar into a firsttop part and a second top part where the ratio between the first toppart and the top of the price bar corresponds to the ratio between thefirst time and the time period and connecting a top of the lower bar toa bottom of the price bar, the connection dividing the bottom of theprice bar into a first bottom part and a second bottom part where theratio between the first bottom part and the bottom of the price barcorresponds to the ratio between the second time and the time period.The price bar, upper bar, and lower bar can then be displayed in step1825 that visually depicts and enables the user to see proportional tothe price bar when the upper bar and the lower bar have occurred duringthe time period.

The price bar is representative of one of a close price, last price,open price, open-close price, and average price. The average price canbe one of a simple moving average (SMA), exponential moving average(EMA), VWAP (Volume Weighted Average Price), TWAP (Time Weighted AveragePrice), mean price, median price, ATR (Average True Range) price and thelike. The price bar is not vertical, for instance a price barrepresenting only a close price would be horizontal and a price barrepresentative of line drawn from an open price to a different closeprice would be diagonal. Such diagonal could be the equivalent of thesame diagonal inside a body of the candle (if displayed) representingthe same OHLC time period. The upper price bar and lower price bar aresubstantially vertical. The price bar, upper price bar, and lower pricebar together visually depict to a user one of an enhanced HLC (high,low, close) bar and an enhanced OHLC (open, high, low, close) bar whichcan also be a current enhanced bar displayed adjacent to one or morepreviously displayed enhanced bars to form one of an enhanced HLC pricechart and OHLC price chart. The enhanced HLC bar and enhanced OHLC barcan be rendered as one of a scalable vector graphic (SVG) and Canvasgenerated image. The price bar can also take the form of a body of acandle where the upper price bar is an upper wick and lower price bar isa lower wick that together visually depict to a user an enhancedcandlestick which can be displayed adjacent to one or more previouslydisplayed enhanced candlesticks to form an enhanced candlestick pricechart. The enhanced candlestick can be rendered as one of a scalablevector graphic (SVG) and Canvas generated image with HTML and JavaScriptusing some commands such as rect( ), fillRect( ), strokeRect( ),clearRect( ), moveTo( ), lineTo( ), stroke( ), and fill( ), for example.The price bar can be a line drawn from the open price to the close priceacross the time period. The correspondence of the ratio between thefirst top part and the top of the price bar to the ratio between thefirst time and the time period is substantially equal. The chartingengine can be in operative communication with at least one of a serverdevice, client device, cloud device, and peer device.

FIG. 19 is an illustration of enhanced OHLC price symbols that can begenerated in accordance with the present invention. Though it has beenshown a preferred mode for carrying out the instant invention with OHLCprice bars are to use the width of a price bar spanning from the openprice to close price as an intratime axis of a time period to moreprecisely break up the single centerline high-low price bar into anupper price bar and lower price bar that can be shifted along theopen-close price bar, there alternate OHLC price symbols that can alsovisually depict which came first, the high price or the low price in agiven time period. An enhanced candlestick 1910 including a shiftedupper and lower wick to represent when the respective high price and lowprice occurred during a time period as already presented can be used asreference to the generation of new alternate OHLC price symbols. Forinstance, the two intersecting lines symbol 1920 represent theintersection of an open-close price line and a high-low price line. Bysuperimposing the two intersecting lines over the enhanced candlestick1910 one would see that the open-close price line would be the diagonalof the candle body drawn from lower left to upper right and that thehigh-low price line would connect the top of the upper wick to thebottom of the lower wick.

When an open price is lower than the close price the open-close priceline would appear rotated counter-clockwise from a horizontal axis at anangle proportionate to the price difference between the close and openprice. When an open price is higher than the close price the open-closeprice line would appear rotated clockwise from a horizontal axis at anangle proportionate to the price difference between the open and closeprice. Similarly, when a high price occurs before the low price thehigh-low price line would appear rotated counter-clockwise from avertical axis at an angle proportionate to the price difference betweenthe high and low price. When the high price occurs after the low pricethe high-low price line would appear rotated clockwise from a verticalaxis at an angle proportionate to the price difference between the highand low price.

When a high price occurs before the low price in a time period, thethree contiguous connected lines 1930 can depict the sequence of OHLCwith a first price line connecting the open price to the high price, thesecond line connecting the high price to the low price and the thirdline connecting the low price to the close price. By superimposing thethree contiguous connected lines over the enhanced candlestick 1910 onewould see these lines match up to the open price, high price, low price,and close price respectively. When the high price occurs after the lowprice in the time period, a OLHC sequence can instead take place withthe first price line connecting the open price to the low price, thesecond line connecting the low price to the high price and the thirdline connecting the high price to the close price.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor displaying an alternate OHLC price symbol in accordance with thepresent invention. When a network access device 210 receives securitymarket data 225 including OHLC data 350, a device processor 315 inoperative communication with a charting engine 340 can determine in step2010 whether a close price is higher than the open price for a giventime period. If so, an open-close price bar can be generated in step2015 with a line drawn from an open price to a close price of the timeperiod which is rotated counter-clockwise from a horizontal axis at anangle proportionate to the difference between the close price and openprice otherwise the open-close price bar can be generated in step 2020with a line drawn from the open price to the close price of the timeperiod which is rotated clockwise from a horizontal axis at an angleproportionate to the difference between the close price and open price.

It can then be determined in step 2025 whether the low price occurredbefore the high price during the time period. If so, a high-low pricebar can be generated in step 2030 with a line drawn from the high priceat a first time to the low price at a second time for the given timeperiod which is rotated clockwise from a vertical axis at an angleproportionate to difference between the high price and low priceotherwise the high-low price bar can be generated in step 2035 with aline drawn from the high price at a first time to the low price at asecond time for the given time period which is rotated counter-clockwisefrom a vertical axis at an angle proportionate to difference between thehigh price and low price. In either case, the new OHLC price symbol canbe displayed in step 2040 where the high-low price bar is intersectedover the open-close price bar.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating the steps performed for generatingor displaying an another alternate OHLC price symbol in accordance withthe present invention. When a network access device 210 receivessecurity market data 225 including OHLC data 350, a device processor 315in operative communication with a charting engine 340 can determine instep 2110 whether the low price occurred before the high price duringthe time period. If so, the OHLC price symbol can be generated anddisplayed in step 2115 with an open-low price line drawn from an openprice to a low price at a second time, a low-high price line drawn fromthe low price to a high price, and a high-close price line drawn fromthe high price to the close price at the end of the time periodotherwise the OHLC price symbol can be generated and displayed in step2120 with an open-high price line drawn from an open price to a highprice at a second time, a high-low price line drawn from the high priceto a low price, and a low-close price line drawn from the low price tothe close price at the end of the time period.

The present invention includes when the close price is a last priceduring the time period and further includes dynamically generating anddisplaying a widening open-close price line by repetitively redrawingthe open-close price line from the open price to the last price duringthe time period where the last price is a close price of an intratimeperiod within the time period and the duration of the intratime periodcan be as small a change in the last price from a previous last pricedown to a single tick of data.

The present invention also includes when the close price is a last priceduring the time period and further includes dynamically generating anddisplaying a widening OHLC price bar by repetitively redrawing thelow-close price line from the low price to the last price during thetime period if the low price occurred after the high price and redrawingthe high-close price line from the high price to the last price duringthe time period if the low price occurred before the high price.

The present invention can also apply to specific types of candlestickssuch as Heikin-Ashi price bars which provide average prices for OHLCbased on formulas to smooth noise and visually depict trend. Forinstance, a close price can represent an average price such as(Open+High+Low+Close)/4 or the high price equal to the maximum of High,Open, or Close or the low price equal to the minimum of Low, Open, orClose, and the open price equal to the (Open of previous bar+Close ofprevious bar)/2.

Such teachings presented in this instant invention can further apply to3-D price bar charts where moving averages, volume, or volatility can bemapped along a surface of a third dimension for each discrete timeperiod, for example.

Although the invention has been shown and described with respect to acertain preferred aspect or aspects, it is obvious that equivalentalterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the artupon the reading and understanding of this specification and the annexeddrawings. In particular regard to the various functions performed by theabove described items referred to by numerals (components, assemblies,devices, compositions, etc.), the terms (including a reference to a“means”) used to describe such items are intended to correspond, unlessotherwise indicated, to any item which performs the specified functionof the described item (e.g., that is functionally equivalent), eventhough not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure whichperforms the function in the herein illustrated exemplary aspect oraspects of the invention. In addition, while a particular feature of theinvention may have been described above with respect to only one ofseveral illustrated aspects, such feature may be combined with one ormore other features of the other aspects, as may be desired andadvantageous for any given or particular application.

The description herein with reference to the figures will be understoodto describe the present invention in sufficient detail to enable oneskilled in the art to utilize the present invention in a variety ofapplications and devices. It will be readily apparent that variouschanges and modifications could be made therein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the followingclaims.

1. A computer-implemented method for displaying, to a user, OHLC (open,high, low, close) bar representative of a price range during a timeperiod, the method comprising: a charting engine generating anddisplaying an open-close price line drawn from an open price to a closeprice of the time period; and the charting engine generating anddisplaying a high-low price line intersecting the open-close price line,wherein the high-low price line is drawn from a high price at a firsttime during the time period to a low price at a second time during thetime period.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generatingand displaying comprises displaying the open-close price line, which iscounter-clockwise from a horizontal axis when the open price is lessthan the close price, and clockwise from the horizontal axis when theopen price is greater than the close price.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the step of generating and displaying comprises displaying theopen-close price line so that an angle of rotation of the open-closeprice line from the horizontal axis is proportional to a difference inprice between the open price and the close price.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the step of generating and displaying comprises displayingthe high-low price line so that the high-low price line iscounter-clockwise from a vertical axis when the high price occurredbefore the low price, and clockwise from the vertical axis when the highprice occurred after the low price.
 5. The method of claim 2, whereinthe step of generating and displaying comprises displaying the high-lowprice line so that an angle of rotation of the high-low price line fromthe vertical axis is proportional to a difference in price between thehigh price and the low price.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein theclose price is a last price during the time period, and the methodfurther comprises dynamically generating and displaying a wideningopen-close price line by repetitively redrawing the open-close priceline from the open price to the last price during the time period. 7.The method of claim 6, wherein the last price is a close price of anintratime period within the time period.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein a duration of the intratime period is less than or equal to achange in the last price from a previous last price.
 9. Acomputer-implemented method for displaying to a user an OHLC (open,high, low, close) bar representative of a price range during a timeperiod, the method comprising: determining whether a low price duringthe time period occurred before a high price during the time period; acharting engine generating and displaying (1) an open-high price linedrawn from an open price at a start of the time period to a high priceat a first time of the time period, (2) a high-low price line drawn fromthe high price at the first time during the time period to a low priceat a second time during the time period, and (3) a low-close price linedrawn from the low price at the second time during the time period tothe close price at an end of the time period when determining that thelow price occurred after the high price; and the charting enginegenerating and displaying (1) an open-low price line drawn from the openprice at the start of the time period to the low price at the secondtime of the time period, (2) a low-high price line drawn from the lowprice at the second time during the time period to the high price at thefirst time during the time period, and (3) a high-close price line drawnfrom the high price at the first time during the time period to theclose price at the end of the time period, when determining that the lowprice occurred before the high price.
 10. The method of claim 9, whereinthe close price is a last price during the time period, and the methodfurther comprises dynamically generating and displaying a widening OHLCprice bar by repetitively redrawing the low-close price line from thelow price to the last price during the time period when determining thatthe low price occurred after the high price, and redrawing thehigh-close price line from the high price to the last price during thetime period when determining that the low price occurred before the highprice.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the last price is a closeprice of an intratime period within the time period.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, wherein a duration of the intratime period is greater than orequal to a change in the last price from a previous last price.
 13. Acomputer-implemented method for displaying, to a user, OHLC (open, high,low, close) bar representative of a price range during a time period,the method comprising: determining whether a low price during the timeperiod occurred before a high price during the time period; a chartingengine generating and displaying (1) an open price line drawnhorizontally from an open price at a start of the time period toperpendicularly connect with a bottom of a vertically drawn high-priceline of a high price at a first time of the time period, and (2) a closeprice line drawn horizontally from a close price at an end of the timeperiod to perpendicularly connect with a top of a vertically drawnlow-price line of a low price at a second time of the time period, whendetermining that the low price occurred after the high price; and thecharting engine generating and displaying (1) the open price line drawnhorizontally from the open price at the start of the time period toperpendicularly connect with a top of a vertically drawn low-price lineof the low price at the second time of the time period, and (2) theclose price line drawn horizontally from the close price at the end ofthe time period to perpendicularly connect with a bottom of a verticallydrawn high-price line of the high price at the first time of the timeperiod, when determining that the low price occurred before the highprice.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising drawing a firstline between the open-high perpendicular connection and the low-closeperpendicular connection when determining that the low price occurredafter the high price, and drawing a second line between the open-lowperpendicular connection and the high-close perpendicular connectionwhen determining that the low price occurred before the high price.